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Starting CCNA, what routers?

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Got my first job like 4 months ago, but the contract is ending soon. My agency want to take me on for more work but said I should really get myself CCNA certified.

So I just bought some books, and now looking at some router kits, whats the minimum I can get away with, are 1601's good enough? (I'm looking at a kit 2x 1601 and a 2924 switch with cables) I'm on a lowish budget.

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I bought a kit from an ebayer caller irp80, it has 2 2500 routers and a 2924xl switch, the only issue ive had is that it uses VLAN databases as opposed to the new method of setting up VLANS (in the config mode, vlan databases are setup in enable mode), other than that ive been able to do just abought everything (with the exception of spanning tree, and VTP which i did at work)

Are you planning on moving to CCNP?

Also, this should have been the first question, what commercial experience do you have with Cisco kit? Employers like experience as well as certs, this is from Cisco themselves, had a chat with one of their recruitment advisors.

2500 series are o-l-l-l-l-d and crustified. They may get you through the CCNA depending on what version of the IOS is on them, but you'd seriously be better off sorting out a couple of cheap 2600-series routers instead and chucking whatever ICs you need/want in them. If your budget can stretch to it, take a look at the 1800 series as well - the 1841s in particular are dirt cheap and support WICs - and, in addition, support MPLS too (you won't come across MPLS on the CCNA, but will if you move onto the CCNP in future)

i'm studying for the CCNA at the moment and I have 2 1600s, a 2600 router and a 2950 switch.

That said I'm lucky enough to borrow them all from work and I noticed a couple of the 3800 series routers that appear to gathering dust on the shelf, so I may be able to lay my grubby hands on them soon. :twisted

Apart from my electricity bill going through the roof, the actual hardware's not costing me anything

I took my CCNA but only had my hands on a couple of 800's and later I bought a 1620 I think it was, can't quite remember. (now my lab is made up somewhere around 10 devices only one of which I paid for )

But ultimately I found that using this http://www.gns3.net/ loaded on to a laptop was ultimately the most useful. On a laptop you can then study in bed, bath, or toilet. Even down the pub if you wanted to

Now the program is legal but you have to have the original IOS for it to work, which you can find on the internet but with some legal implications so please don't ask for them or links to them.

But ultimately I found that using this http://www.gns3.net/ loaded on to a laptop was ultimately the most useful. On a laptop you can then study in bed, bath, or toilet. Even down the pub if you wanted to

Now the program is legal but you have to have the original IOS for it to work, which you can find on the internet but with some legal implications so please don't ask for them or links to them.

Click to expand...

That is NOT correct.

Before this forum runs into any legal difficulty, i would just like to point out, for the unintiated, that the legal position on Cisco's IOS is quite clear - you CANNOT - EVER - run the Cisco IOS on anything other than a Cisco router. This includes simulators.

The Dynamips simulator is perfectly legal but, since the Cisco IOS cannot legally be used with it, is also perfectly useless for Cisco studies.

Before this forum runs into any legal difficulty, i would just like to point out, for the unintiated, that the legal position on Cisco's IOS is quite clear - you CANNOT - EVER - run the Cisco IOS on anything other than a Cisco router. This includes simulators.

The Dynamips simulator is perfectly legal but, since the Cisco IOS cannot legally be used with it, is also perfectly useless for Cisco studies.

Click to expand...

Legal issues aside (as mentioned in my original post) The program is very very handy. But I won't get drawn in to that discussion

I should have mentioned that their is no replacement for actually getting your hands on the real hardware.

So any routers you can get your hands on are useful. 2600's are fairly cheap and easy to get.
I looked for routers with more than one interface I could easily use as I was trying to get a specific thing stuck in to my head.

This is an article on CCNA labs, by Wendell Odom (the guy that wrote the CiscoPress Exam Guide for CCNA) - here. It's all in $'s, but gives good detail on what you can / can't do with the kit available.

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